The Great Fire (6 page)

André turned to Sam. “Let's explore!”

“Be careful!” his mother shouted as the boys ran off.

* * *

Cheapside had been burned to the ground.

“Look! You can see the river now!”

London, with its tall buildings and its countless church steeples, was gone. Watling Street, Bow Lane, Friday Street where Sam used to live with Master Kemp – all the way down to the river there was nothing but a smoking wasteland.

“Look at St Paul's!”

The great church was a ruin. Its roof had come crashing down, breaking open the tombs in the crypt, scattering bones and skulls. Stray dogs nosed around them.

Sam hopped about, excited.

“These stones are as hot as an oven!”

They clambered around the ruins until a firefighter chased them away.

Another dog emerged from the crypt as they were leaving. It was lame, with a chewed lead dangling from its collar, and its fur was patchy, singed by fire.
Poor thing,
thought Sam.
It must have been trapped somewhere.

And then the dog saw him, and with sudden eagerness it hurried towards them. Sam stared.

“It can't be – it
is
! André – it's Budge! It's
Budge
!”

They both dropped to their knees in the ash as the dog reached them. He moved from
one to the other of them, panting and licking and making small happy sounds as they stroked and fussed over him.

And his tail kept wagging as if it would never stop.

Plague: A Cross on the Door
Ann Turnbull

In the long, hot summer of 1665, the plague comes to London. Sam is a servant boy with no family of his own. When his master dies, Sam is left alone, a prisoner in an empty building with a cross on the door to mark it as a plague house.

The first of Sam's adventures. Can he escape? And even if he does, will he be able to survive on London's ravaged streets?

£4.99        ISBN 9781408186879

The Great Fire of London Unclassified: Secrets Revealed!
Nick Hunter

The Great Fire of London Unclassified
takes readers on a journey back in time to uncover the true story behind London's most destructive fire ever.

From the outbreak of the fire at a bakery on Pudding Lane, to fire fighting techniques and the meddling Lord Mayor, readers are taken behind the scenes to see what really happened. Real-life artefacts and documentation reproduced in full colour enable readers to build a true and real account of the Great Fire and how it shaped Britain today.

£10.99        ISBN 9781408193037

Plague Unclassified: Secrets of the Great Plague Revealed!
Nick Hunter

Focusing on the last British outbreak of plague, the Great Plague of London in 1665,
Plague Unclassified
takes readers on a journey back in time to uncover the story behind the disease.

From what life was like in London during the 1665 outbreak, to where plague came from, how it was spread, and whether it still exists today, real-life artefacts and documentation enable readers to build a true and real account of the bubonic plague and how it shaped Britain today.

£10.99        ISBN 9781408192177

This electronic edition published in September 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Copyright © 2013 A & C Black
Text copyright © 2013 Ann Turnbull
Illustrations copyright © 2013 Akbar Ali

First published 2013 by A & C Black
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square,
London, WC1B 3DP
www.bloomsbury.com

The rights of Ann Turnbull and Akbar Ali to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

eISBN: 978-1-4081-8823-1

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

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